A few more pages ...

More Custom Album

Here are a few more layouts for the custom album for my dil.

Custom Album

Thanks so much for the kind words about my work ... as you know, it validates what we do!

Quite a few weeks ago my dil asked me to put together an album for someone special in her life. It was actually scary how it all fell into place for me and how easy it was to do! I am so very pleased with how the album turned out! I used a retired SSK (Tie the Knot) and kept the additional embellishments to a minimum. I went to Splitcoast and case'd the layouts from many different people. I'll be posting pictures over the next few days.

This is the opening page.

The first 2 page layout.

Wedding Bells are ringing ...

or at least will be ringing for my friend, Les and her luv, Geoff. I was extremely flattered when she came over right away and asked me to help her design and make their invitations and everything else needed for the wedding! She and her luv were so easy to work with ... and in no time at all we had the design decided on. I cut all of the paper for them and then Les got her children to work!! They did an awesome job!!

Les and her kiddies have already cut, scored, stamped and pre-taped the favour boxes ... they just need some tweaking which I'll do a little later.

I've got a little something planned to add to all of this, but can't show you until after the wedding so that it will be a surprise for Les and her luv.

To some special people ...

I owe a huge Thank You!
It's been a difficult time and a couple of very special people stepped up without asking a single question and made things much easier for our family.
On Thursday morning my father and dh went out to the golf course to try to de-stress ... their way, while I came up here to my stamp room to de-stress ... my way. I needed to make some special thank you cards and found these by Jill Hilliard. The premise worked! I found myself so totally engrossed in making them, that by the time I was done ... Dad and dh were walking in the door!

I have to tell you a story about the following card ... dh saw the cards sitting on my workspace, saw the border punch sitting on my workspace and felt compelled to "play". This is his card and I know the perfect person to send it to.

This is a very hard post ...

and not one that I had ever wanted to make.
The previous few posts were pre-scheduled to post while I was up north @ my parent' home keeping vigil with my father, sister and her sons at our mother's bedside. Mom lost her fight with cancer early Saturday morning with us at her side and knowing how much we loved her.
I appreciate all of the good wishes that were left.
Obviously we will miss her more then words can express, but she is at peace and no longer struggling.
It's been a very long week ... but my father and sister and her family have gone back up north and we will try to find a way to carry on now. My husband is taking a few extra days and is now on vacation.
I found some quiet time this morning and used it to make some Thank You cards for some very special people. I'll post these in a few days, once I get them from my husband's camera.

More Cards for Mom

Here are the cards that I had started and planned on finishing with mom. I was hoping to have her input for the greetings, but had to figure things out for myself.

I got the idea from another demo ... Kelly Ramey had submitted this class idea to Stampin' Up! and it was posted on the demo side of their website. It is so versatile!

Simple is good!

I've subscribed to No Time To Stamp ... I
LOVE Sharon's style ... so clean, simple and stunning! I fell in love with these cards and since I had the papers ... had to give it a try.

I'm happy with my version, but realized while making these cards that I also LOVE Nestabilities! And I NEED more! LOL!! Just the basic ones ... rectangles, circles, labels ... Oh who am I kidding?? What ever I can get my hands on ... I'll need!

I love that deckled edge from the Nestability!
I'm also loving making up cards sets for gifts. It's nice to have a few on hand for last minute gift giving!

Trying to keep busy

My mom asked me to make a card for my grandson's upcoming Baptism ... this is what I made on behalf of my parents, CASED from Lori .

Sorry for the blurry picture ... I was up north with very basic supplies, not expecting to be taking pics of any cards ... remembered to take this picture at the very last minute.

I had taken some partially completed cards to work on with my mom, but had to complete them myself. I ended up going up north a day earlier then planned when my mom was admitted to the hospital unexpectedly. I've come home for a few days to restock and will be heading back up (likely as you are reading this) for a few more days.

I've got a few posts set up with the cards I had completed the first trip up north. I've taken up another project or two (gotta keep busy) that I've been meaning to do, so I will hopefully be able to remember to take pictures and perhaps post some more.

On the road again ...

that song from Willy Nelson is repeatedly playing in my head right now! LOL
But it is where I am ... I'm up north at my folks place for a bit. I'm going to try to take some pics of a couple of cards I've made up here and post them as soon as I can. Bear with me ... I'll be back soon.

Quick Update

Just a quick post to update you on my garage sale.
It was a HUGE success! I sold almost half of my retired sets ... 45 to be precise, ALL of my DP to one sweetheart of a lady, all but one of my retired Scrappin' Kits and lots of punches, wheels and retired ink pads. The best part was meeting some lovely new ladies who share my obsession! LOL
DH was very pleased as well, because he/we sold (got rid of) lots of other things that were taking up room in his garage and at the side of the house. Now he can actually put together the workbench that our children bought him one year when they were both living @ home. Keep in mind that our last child to leave the nest is now a married mother of one!
We did get a torrential downpour at one point that lasted for about 1 1/2 hours, but oddly enough, this is when we had the most amount of people arrive! Picture 6 cars arriving, roughly 20 people jumping out and my dh running around with his golf umbrella trying to keep some very focused ladies dry while they were going through my stamp sets! LOL ... I really wish I had had my camera handy.
I'm off to get my feet up for a while ... It was a very productive but also very exhausting day. I'll try to be back on Monday with some cards to show you.

Oh my!

I'll bet you thought I up and left the blogging world! No such luck!! LOL
It's just been a busy, confusing, crappy couple of months! I won't go into great detail, but
a) DH and I no longer have a trailer
b) I'm re-evaluating my work options
c) my mom is not doing well again and that is very worrisome, which brings me to ...
d) I'VE LOST MY MOJO (anyone seen it around?)
My club ladies are taking the summer off so I decided to do some cleaning. Purging is actually what I ended up doing. We are having a garage sale this weekend and after helping dh clean the garage on Saturday to see what we had ... I got really inspired and headed up to my craft room. Wanna see what I felt I could spare?

Those pics represent over 100 stamp sets, 14 wheels, 11 Scrappin' Kits, 21 stamp pads and too many packages of Designer Paper to count. And those are just the things that I'm getting rid of ... I've still got lots of retired stuff that I'm keeping for my personal use.
But looky at my stamp cupboard now!

I can actually open the doors without stamp sets toppling over and falling on me!
And I have room in the paper holders for the new Designer Paper that is being delivered this Friday!
This week I've been asked to make and/or help with a couple of projects: one of my best friends got officially engaged last Friday evening and I have helped her design their invitations and favours. The materials are arriving with my new "schtuff" (as JanTink would say *mslf*) on Friday so we can "get'er done" ... my dil has asked me to make an album that just needs the pictures plopped into it for a very special lady in her life ... my mom has asked for a refill of her card case (which I'll gladly do so that she doesn't go to the dollar store and buy more of "those" cards! LOL) While I'm making cards for my mom , I think I'll just double up the cards and add them to my pathetic little stash too!
Hopefully I'll return within a day or two to show you a few cards that I will add to our stashes.
In the mean time ... remember to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you!

Trailer Tales

Dh and I have a wonderful tent trailer which we have parked in a trailer park for the second season. We actually chose a site that normally is used for "weekenders". We spent a lot of time, effort and a bit of money to make it suitable for us (lots of gravel so that we are not walking in muck when it rains). LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SUMMER!!!
There is a campsite between us and another couple who are newbies to this venture, as well, and who have the cutest little trailer you ever saw!
Below is a pic of their trailer ...

Now ... what does it look like to you? Yep ... the trailer from Happy Camper (retired)!! I just couldn't resist making them a little mini-scrapbook to celebrate their first year with this little gem. Poppy doesn't scrapbook (yet *wink, wink*) and they did soooo much work (gutted the little sucker) that I thought they might like to document the first summer they spent in the trailer. It was so much fun and I'm pretty happy how it turned out. I used the Simply Scrappin' Kit "Out and About" (retired)

Please excuse the less then great pictures ... I snapped these photos with my phone right before I gave Mike and Poppy the mini-book.

Found a Picture ...

on my phone, of all places, that I had forgotten I had taken. It's of the card I made for our granddaughter's 2nd birthday. This is the card that gave me my inspiration ... Thank You so much!!
Here is my version of the same card.

The background behind "Big Bird" and "Elmo's" face really are Real Red ... The lighting is just bad.

Children's Card Class

I recently held another class ... this one we made cards for children. I totally CASED a card from Andrea Walford and I LOVE it!! It really was fairly easy and I know just the perfect occassion in which to use it!!

Mom's Birthday

My Mom's birthday was April 21st and she and Dad came to stay with us for a few days. They arrived on the 22nd and stayed until the 27th. I had been working on her gift for a few days before they arrived but didn't get it finished until the day before they left! I know, I know ... almost seemed like I left it to the last minute, but it really took much longer then I thought it would to complete!

My Mom is an amazing woman ... 78 years old (sorry Mom! LOL), having some serious health issues, but still on the go ... inactivity is not in this woman's vocabulary! When my children were much younger (teenagers and the oldest of all of the grandchildren) we had a particular restaurant we (my sisters, their families and our parents) loved to go to ... mostly for birthdays or Mother's Day. We went for their Sunday Brunch because it was the best place to fill the boys' tummies up. Man, could those boys eat when they were in their middle teens! LOL It's been a lot of years since we all went there, so we went on the Sunday of their visit with my son, his wife and their two little ones. It brought back a lot of memories.

The following are pics of the gift I gave my mother for her birthday. I bought the tutorial from Becky Roberts and need to make more!

Mom mentioned that she had a bunch of cards without sentiments inside. Personally, I'm liking the blank cards I have, but Mom likes to have something inside. Rather then take a bunch of stamps and ink up to their home with me the next time we visit ... I stamped a bunch of sentiments and cut them out with punches, put dimensionals on the back and packaged them up for her. Something to put into one of the pockets of the Tote.

The inside of the Tote

Sorry for not posting on Friday ...

I have no excuse other then my every day life got in the way. I normally only work during the morning and afternoon school bus times (I answer the phones and two way radio now that I cannot drive my bus) but on Tuesday and Friday this week I worked all day. That shouldn't account for much but it does tend to mess up my routine. Lately ... it doesn't take much to mess me up!LOL

On Saturday my sil Amanda (loved spending time with you, lady!) and I went to Scrapfest in Kitchener ... WOW!!! The auditorium was packed with venders and scrappers! There were lineups for the make & take chairs at all of the booths that had make & takes, there were lineups to pay for your purchases, there were lineups for the ATM's ... but we did manage a make & take at the GO Scrapping Studio. They only were allowing 24 people at a time, but did have a list of times and what each make & take would be. We chose our make & take and made sure we were there before they had handed out all of the numbers. We got to make a 12x12 layout offered by "In a Pinch Designs". It was fun, lovely and so easy. I love it! Especially when I got home and had the perfect picture on hand for it. I don't do 1 picture layouts very often and have done layouts with just dh and I even less often. This is special to me.

Nothing is SU and I don't remember if we were told the brands or not.

I love how we cut out small details from scrap paper, popped them up on dimensionals for definition and used no other embellishments. Simple!

I promise I'll have more projects later this week. I'm working at finishing up a couple of things for Wednesday and I'll have to use some new things I got at Scrapfest!

Something for Myself ...

I didn't get nearly all that I wanted to get done on the weekend. Most things just were not working out the way I had envisioned, but I did get something done for myself. I had downloaded some pages from somewhere, but unfortunately, I didn't note where they came from. I printed them out and bound them into book form with my Bind-It-All. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. Again, this is just for my own use, and it really doesn't take a whole lot to make me happy! LOL
It's a Scrapbooking Planner with pages for "Must Make Pages", "Page Planner", "Shopping List" and "To Do List".
I've got the pdf files for all of these pages, so if you would like a copy ... just shoot me an email and I'll get it to you.

Here are a few close-ups.

Supplies:
Paper - Muirfield DP (retired). Whisper White cs, Baja Breeze cs
Accessories - On Board Book Basics (large), Jumbo Brads 5/8", Hooray Designer Hardware, Valet Ribbon Originals, round tab punch, key tag punch, scallop oval punch, large oval punch, scallop edge punch, dimensionals
*Don't forget that if you want larger pictures ... just click on them*